Speculative Fiction—an all-encompassing genre created to describe stories of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and other stories that have an element of “What if...” in them. A story in speculative fiction is one that adds an element of the unreal, or asks, what would become of our society if history took a different direction at some important event? Fiction with a little something extra thrown in.—William D. Richards

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Sunday, April 30, 2017

It’s that time of the month again, time for “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”.

So
what is “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up of
speculative fiction by indie authors newly published this month, though
some February books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The
books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links
only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future
editions.

Starseer,
pilot, and animal lover Jelena Marchenko wants to prove to her parents
that she’s ready to captain her own freighter and help run the family
business. When she finally talks them into getting a second ship and
letting her fly it, it doesn’t faze her that the craft is decades old
and looks like a turtle. This is the chance she’s craved for years.

But
it’s not long before the opportunity to rescue mistreated lab animals
lures her from her parentally approved cargo run and embroils her in a
battle between warring corporations. To further complicate matters, her
childhood friend Thorian, prince of the now defunct Sarellian Empire, is
in trouble with Alliance law and needs her help.

Torn between her
duty to her family and doing what she believes is honorable, Jelena is
about to learn that right and wrong are never as simple as they appear
and that following your heart can get you killed.

The wolf essence stone—finding it could free werewolves from the curse of the moon. Or it could kill them all.

Victoria
has burned with “the fever” to find the stone since hearing about it.
Hundreds of werewolves before her have died in the quest. That legacy
doesn’t deter her, though. She’s willing to risk anything to find the
stone and break the curse that forces them to shift every full moon. Her
obsession compels her to travel to Iceland, where she feels the stone
calling to her. Pulling her toward it. If only she knew the ancient evil
residing inside.

Toby fears the changes in his beloved Victoria.
He sets out to find the one person who might be able to help—Soleil, a
Valkyrie with incredible power and vast knowledge about essence stones.
But even she may not be enough to stop the carnage Victoria is about to
set loose on the world.

Victoria has a strong connection to both
the stone and danger behind it. Will she be able to end the curse of the
moon, or will the stone destroy them all?

USA Today bestselling
author, Stacy Claflin, brings you Broken Wolf, the fourth book in the
Curse of the Moon series. It’s a paranormal romantic suspense saga that
features gripping supernatural drama, surprising twists, dynamic
characters, and heart-pounding romance. For the best reading experience,
follow the series in order.

Imprisoned
and subjected to brutal genetic experiments, space marine Adam has been
changed into a perfect predator. A super soldier that is part man, part
tiger, and all killing machine.

When his latest mission has an
unexpected outcome, Adam finds himself free of his explosive control
collar and honor bound to protect a mysterious woman. Now he is on an
alien planet, and they are both being hunted by the most powerful mega
corporation in the solar system. Their only escape lays at the helm of
an experimental starship hidden beyond countless layers of military
security.

All Adam has is his military training, sense of honor, and a beautiful woman who needs to drink blood to live.
It is time to let the tiger out.

When
a princess who's no stranger to scandal runs afoul of the secrets of
the most powerful cabal on Landfall, even her crown can't protect her
from the consequences.

They can have anything they want...except a future.

Nothing infuriates Princess Ione Ra more than having someone else take
control of her reputation from her, and her old nemesis--gossip
journalist Jaris Pulne--is poised to do just that with pilfered pics of
her caught in a compromising position with her power-couple partner. As
someone who's no stranger to manipulating the markets on her own social
life, Ione knows the wrong scandal means social suicide.

Privilege is a prison...

For the other half of the power couple, Den Hades, his survival has
depended on staying in his powerful father's shadow in order to protect
his secrets. But on the very night of his one chance to earn a shot at
becoming a Scion--and freedom from his father's ambitions, scandal
threatens to tear him from Ione, or worse--force them together before
their time.

Kaiya
escapes her ordeal at the hands of the Teleri Emperor, only to return
to a homeland beset by enemies on all sides, and crumbling from within.

As
a teenager, she quelled a rebellion with the Dragon Scale Lute. As a
young adult, she vanquished a dragon with the power of her voice.

Now,
robbed of her magic by grief, Kaiya must navigate a web of court
intrigue to save the realm before it falls. Only she can lay claim to
the Dragon Throne on behalf of her unborn sons—whether the father is the
lover who perished rescuing her, or the hated enemy who killed him.

In
the final story in Kaiya’s saga, she must rally a nation, repel
invaders, and prove to the world why her family alone holds the Mandate
of Heaven.

Humanity’s
expansion into the stars has led to awe-inspiring discoveries—and
terrifying new threats. An insidious alien race is waging an
interstellar war, enslaving any civilization they encounter to carry out
their galactic rampage. Now they have set their sights on mankind.

Tag
Brewer is a medical scientist. Not a ship’s captain. But as humanity’s
survival hangs in the balance, he must lead a ragtag crew of humans, a
skeptical alien, and a synthetic lifeform into the depths of enemy
territory. There he forms an uneasy alliance with a group of aliens—the
Mechanics—fleeing from the destruction.

There is only one way to
track down and stop their frightening new adversaries. Tag must follow
the trail of devastation left behind in the fallen Mechanic empire.
There he hopes to recruit other survivors to their cause. But what Tag
and his crew find is far more dangerous than any of them thought
possible.

The
Magical Crimes Division of the FBI has been loaned out to WITSEC to
help protect a very valuable witness. The only problem is they don't
like FBI Agents and refuse to allow them to take him. Agatha and her
charge are plagued with Magickal Assassins, Evil Witches, and Fergus her
Mini Unicorn. What is one Witch to do when even members of your own
family are trying to kill you?

In a world filled with mindreaders, being a mindjacker is a good way to end up dead.

And Zeph is no ordinary jacker.

He
can break open the toughest minds—or lock the weakest ones—but that
just makes him a weapon every jacker Clan wants to control. To keep his
family of mindreaders safe, Zeph does what his Clan leader says and
tries to shut out the screams—but when jackers are revealed to the
world, he has no choice but to hug his kid sister goodbye and leave
home.

Passing for a reader is something Zeph does well, but when
readers start changing into jackers and his family disappears, Zeph must
return to a city filled with jackers who hate him, trick a mindware CEO
into helping him, avoid a girl who knows him too well, and spy on the
most powerful jacker in the state.

All without dying or revealing
his abilities—or being caught in the firestorm of hate between jackers
and readers that’s threatening to pull the world apart.

I've
wanted to work with a wolf partner for as long as I can remember. This
is my third — and final — chance of being chosen by one.

You know what they say. Be careful what you wish for.

I
had no idea wolves could be as broken as my new partner is. He has an
intense phobia of dogs, his attitude reeks, he barely knows how to take
care of himself, and doesn't care about much of anything — except having
lots of sex.

That's the best thing about our partnership, the
sex. But sometimes I wonder if it's worth it. I don't know how to fix
this. He's difficult, annoying, handsome as hell...and I don't want to
give him up.

My dream come true is starting to feel like a nightmare. But the one he's living turns out to be far worse.

Barry
Ocason, extreme sportsman and outdoor travel writer, receives a
magazine in his mailbox and opens to an ad for an adventure in the
Bavarian Alps. Initially dismissing the invitation, which seems to have
been meant specifically for him, he soon finds himself involved in a
larger plot and seeking answers to why an individual known only as the
elephant man is terrorizing his family.

Barry and his daughter
Kristen, who survived a twin sister taken from the family at a young
age, travel from Juneau, Alaska to the sinister Spider Festival in Rio
Tago, Brazil, before he ultimately answers the call to Bavaria, where
the puzzle begins to come together.

Amid tribulation, death,
madness, and institutionalization, a document emerges describing a
scientist’s bloody bid to breed a theoretical “third twin,” which is
believed to have the potential, through its connection with its
siblings, to bridge the gulf between life and afterlife. The godlike
creature that soon emerges turns out to be Barry’s own offspring, and
she has dark plans for the world of her conception that neither her
father nor any other mortal can stop.

They're
all gone. We remember them like yesterday: pieces of our stolen
heritage. Things like NASA. Football. Parades and pies. Good things,
comfortable things. We remember a time when we were alone in the
universe, safe and oblivious.

But it's all gone now.

We
called them the Telestines, and in the face of their ruthless invasion
we were powerless. By 2040, all the world's governments and militaries
had fallen, and the remnants of humanity exiled to the solar system. We
looked down on our blue planet, so close to our birthplace, so close to
our home. But the miles may as well have been lightyears.

Our
anger smoldered in the darkness of space. On Mars. On Ganymede. In the
dank crowded filth of the asteroids. We swore: we will take our planet
back.

Welcome
to the Wild North, a desolate wasteland where criminals go to hide—if
they can outlast the drought and the dangers of the desert. Or the
dangers of something else.

Meet Nox, the Coilhunter. A mechanic
and toymaker by trade, a bounty hunter by circumstance. He isn't in it
for the money. He's in it for justice, and there's a lot of justice that
needs to be paid.

Between each kill, he's looking for someone who
has kept out of his crosshairs for quite a while—the person who
murdered his wife and children. The trail has long gone cold, but there
are changes happening, the kind of changes that uncover footprints and
spent bullet casings.

Plagued by nightmares, he's made himself into a living one, the kind the criminals and conmen fear.

So, welcome, fair folk, to the Wild North. If the land doesn't get you, the Coilhunter will.

Friday, April 28, 2017

Here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative
fiction from
around the web, this week with women
in SFF, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Handmaid's Tale, American Gods, the new season of Doctor Who, Secret Empire and new troubling revelations about Captain America, a lot of con reports as well as the usual mix
of awards news, writing advice,
interviews, reviews, awards news, a whole lot of con
reports, crowdfunding projects, science articles and free online
fiction.

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Today, Jessica and I are over at Joshua Pantalleresco's Just Joshing podcast. Joshua was kind enough to interview us and we talk about writing, speculative fiction and the Speculative Fiction Showcase.

Friday, April 21, 2017

Here is our weekly round-up of interesting links about speculative
fiction from
around the web, this week with women
in SFF, The Handmaid's Tale, American Gods, the new season of Doctor Who, the Odyssey Con controversy as well as another controversy surrounding Rocky Mountain Fur Con as well as the usual mix
of awards news, writing advice,
interviews, reviews, awards news, a whole lot of con
reports, crowdfunding projects, science articles and free online
fiction.

About the Speculative Fiction Showcase

We are a blog about all things indie science fiction, fantasy and horror. Read interviews with and guest posts by spec fic writers and keep current on news from the SFF world and the latest spec-fic releases.